Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A new design principle... it largely works, 14 Jun 2008
As predictably as you like, the 4e backlash has began. People have picked their sides and the haters hate it and the lovers love it. Personally I think its a cracking bit of game design even if I don't agree with many of the design decisions.
When I picked this up I had no idea what to expect, I don't read spoilers for new games and prefer to be surprised with the outcome. As a result I knew nothing of just how much this Players Handbook was a departure for previous editions. Firstly this is only part of the story as the character classes featured in here cross three "power sources"- Martial, Arcane, and Divine. This rules out some well known classes (such as the Druid or Barbarian) who are expected to fit one of the Power Sources that will feature in a future Players Handbook. Its safe to say that this element was one of the ones that had me nearly hysterical when I started flicking through my new purchase.
As I began to read the "purist" in me began to rail against much of what I was taking in and its taken me a week to step back far enough from my initial shock factor to really begin to appreciate what the game is trying to do. Each class and race is balanced thoroughly against every other one and, although I'm not a fan of that sort of forced balance, its an impressive feat of game design. The one dimensionality of some other elements of the game system (particularly skill bonuses) rankled me somewhat but I've come to be a bit more relaxed about that.
What Wizards have done with 4e is to return it to its roots. As a game with a fantastic number of tactical combat options it excels, but it doesn't overwhelm. D&D is the biggest selling RPG in the world and as such should operate as an entry level game for new players, a feat the more complex 3e couldn't ever manage. By sacrificing a degree of realism and, yes, making the game somewhat reminiscent of MMORPG computer games they have made this Players Handbook a highly accessible game engine. In terms of cruch there are hundreds of items of equipment and magic items (scaled for use across multiple levels of play)and a new and different magic system split between the class powers of magic users and a new feature called Rituals (a great idea, but possibly a bit expensive to use in play). Creating characters is simple, flows, and is clear within the game rules. Options that are plainly not working may be traded in at a later time providing players an extra level of control over their characters and how they turn out.
This is not the D&D we grew up playing (but then for many of us neither was the 3rd Edition). So many Sacred Cows have been slaughtered in the making of this book that it will be a rare experienced player not caught by surprise by much of it. Complaints that it is simpler are absolutely on the nose, and I'm sure Wizards of the Coast's design team are happy that people are pointing that out. It may frustrate some longer term gamers, but as someone that has been playing and running games for over 20 years I feel that this game could bring back friends that have been turning their noses up at D&D for 15 of those years. I don't recommend this without reservations, but it's still worth buying the book, strapping on your +2 chainmail and cloak of resistance, and then playing a game that's fun to be part of.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Less Roleplaying - More Action, 12 Jun 2008
Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition
They arrived the other day. With tense anticipation I stripped the cellophane and read the core books from cover to cover.
Now as a Big fan of the whole DnD world, and roleplaying in general, I was apprehensive about this new edition - after how Wizards of the Coast continued to rip off it's customers with the every changing editions of the Star Wars RPG (including its latest incarnation), I felt this would be something similar - another marketing ploy to resell, with minor omissions and additions, it's vast back catalogue of material.
Yet I am pleasantly surprised.
I think a lot of people are making snap reactions to how radically different the game looks and feels compared to the steady medium that the 3rd (and 3.5) edition d20 rules have provided for so long. It's interesting to note that the 3rd edition garnered similar criticisms upon its release.
Okay 4th edition is very different. It has most definitely been tempered by a need to balance the classes, to rectify and simplify some of the more hazy rules, and speed up the entire process of playing.
For example, each class now gains more feats and abilities that scale pretty much identically to everyone else. These abilities are called Powers. Players can select from a vast library of these powers, allowing them to tailor their characters to fit more specific roles. Take clerics - they can select powers which can concentrate on dealing damage via spells or weapons, or they can simply be configured to be the best healers. Fighters can be damage dealers or guardians of other players. One wonder's if the variability offered in character creation and direction by games such as World of Warcraft have coloured these new rules.
However, herein lies my objection. Dungeons and Dragon's 4th edition is being pushed (by its rules) as an adventure game, whereas 3rd edition was much more of a roleplaying game. These new rules glosses over the whole magic that creating and sustaining a new world offered in the old rules, in favour of a swift and malleable system of combat mechanics. It's all about encounters and dungeon crawling now - it has literally become Diablo.
But it does make a great adventure game. And I'm sure the more seasoned roleplay veterans will need little help adding their own flavour to it. But for younger, less experienced or new players, the entire joy of roleplaying will be watered down to a game akin to the old Advanced Hero Quest, which is a big shame.
As an adventure game, 4 out of 5 stars.
As a roleplaying game 2 out of 5 stars.
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32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now everyone gets to have fun. Including the DM., 9 Jun 2008
I've been a fan of D&D since the early 80s - AD&D was my intro, and I survived. Last year I started running a 3.5 campaign for my daughter and 4 of her school friends, all aged around 11.
They loved it, and now all look forward to our Friday afternoon session.
However, it was difficult to run combat, and at low levels the characters found it difficult to do anything useful in combat. Lot's of looking through spell and skills lists, weighing up the options, and then saying 'I'll have another go with my crossbow / scimitar.' The class balance was non-existant, and the bard and cleric felt particularly 'third wheel'-ish. My wife would watch about 10 minutes of play where each player in turn umms and ahhs before doing something arbitrary, and she would catch my eye and mime a huge yawn. But the kids loved it, with some reporting vivid D&D dreams and all of them racing from school to get as much in as possible.
4th edition has changed everything. Every character has something interesting to do (or at least try to do) EVERY ROUND. Everyone feels useful and engaged. And now teamwork is really rewarded, so they really have to play together. No more wandering off to play in the garden while each of the other players takes their turn. And the character development choices and powers are ALL interesting and relevant. There are no 'no-brainers', and also very few accidental bad choices. this means everyone is much more emotionally invested in their character.
Likewise the monsters have new and interesting ways to slaughter PCs. Fight balance and reward balance is much easier to maintain. Life as DM is easier and more interesting, allowing you to focus on the overall experience rather than tracking spell usage / looking up creature stats. Although I have to admit, tracking conditions is starting to get interesting. Definitely fun though.
There's a lot of nerdrage* out there about 'dumbing down' the combat and turning it into an MMORPG or card game, and loosing the roleplaying. This, in my humble opinion, is nothing more than elitist bleating due to old fashioned resistance to change. True, the 4ED combat system is easier to run (mostly), but the number of possible combinations / situations has increased dramatically making fights far more tactical and interesting. The flavour text for the powers is excellent, making fights more colourful and exciting. And if anything, the streamlined combat rules let you focus more on the roleplaying aspects of the game.
Yes, there are some faults to the system, but frankly they pale into insignificance given the rewards of the new game. And there's nothing that can't be fixed through a future clarificatoin on the WotC website. This game is NOT D&D 3.5 service pack 1. This is a whole new game, and one which I'm loving.
One note: there is a whole suite of online / computer tools that were supposed to launch at the same time as these books (June 6th). However, WotC have had problems with the software development project (PRINCE2 anyone?) and they are running months late. This is unfortunate and very disappointing, but not the end of the world. They'll be fab when they finally arrive, and it's nice to know WotC are holding to high production values rather than rushing out dodgy software (cough M$ cough). In the meantime, head over to enworld.org and grab some community created alternatives. (They were getting 10 million hits per month before launch, according to Wired. They are probably getting even more now.)
Anyway, my 3.5 books will be on eBay by the end of the week. (Would be sooner, but can't tear myself away from these books.)
Till next time gamers, may all your saving throws be successful.
*Nerdrage is a word I saw in a review on the amazon.com site, and is so appropriate it's become my new favourite word. :)
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